


A christmas case

by Anonymous



Category: Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:02:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Lucy gets hurt on a case a few days after christmas and Lockwood comforts her
Relationships: Lucy Carlyle/Anthony Lockwood
Kudos: 34





	A christmas case

1.  
Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and happiness. The people are decorating everything with lights, Christmas trees or Santa Clauses. Sadly, after Fittes and Rotwell were ruined, we did not belong to those people. Lockwood & Co. was the number one agency in London. Which meant we had a lot of really important cases from really important people. But since nobody was wandering around on the Other Side anymore, there weren´t that many ghosts. Don´t understand me wrong, we really had enough to do. But the number of ghost sightings decreased significantly and with the new year DEPRAC introduced a new rule which said that agents needs to have at least two free days a week. This rule came into effect from the beginning of January. Till then we had cases nearly every day, also on the 26th of December.

The case we were working on that day was commissioned to us by a rich businessman who lived in an old house on the richer side of London. After he and his family had moved into the house a few weeks ago, some unnatural events had happened. In the afternoon, his children had heard whining, also someone cry a few times. And a few days before the man had come to us, his kid had seen a woman in the hall before their room. Since he had heard a lot from us, he came to us and we said we´d come as soon as we could.

So, on the 26th of December, the three of us were preparing our equipment for the case. We were all tired because Christmas Eve was our first day off since a long time. Having already packed most of our backpacks, we were all just chilling. Holly was backing some biscuits, because the ones she had backed had disappeared in a strange way (I suspect George), and George had gone to the archives.  
Lockwood and I were practicing with our rapiers. We had done that for like 30 minutes before I took a small break and watched him. Back then I didn´t really knew why but it was oddly hypnotizing to observe him. How he moved, how his hair fell in his eye when he moved quickly and how… I looked away. That is my boss I was thinking about. Closing my eyes, I sat up on the table and yawned. Just like I said, we were all exhausted.

“Luce you need to sleep more.” I opened my eyes again and saw Lockwood looking at me with a slightly concerned look on his face. “I´m fine. Seriously.” I grinned at him with my typical Carlyle-grin and stood up. “Not getting enough sleep is part of our job, you know.” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “I guess, you´re right. A long nap is not something us agents are familiar with. But you need to rest more since…” “… Since my talent is stronger and more tiring that yours. You´ve been telling me that for ages now. I´m just a bit tired that´s all.” Lockwood shook his head. “I just want to make sure you are doing ok.” I rolled my eyes, opining my mouth to respond but I was interrupted.

“Wow, you two really fight like and old couple.” Sighing, I closed my eyes in annoyance. “And if we are already at the couple topic, why haven´t you two slept together.” I froze. “What did he say now?” Lockwood chuckled. Shacking my head, I turned to the door and stumped into the other room where the skull´s jar was standing on George´s desk, making weird and repulsive faces. George had done some strange experiment again and had left the lever of the jar open.

“Oh, did I make the virgin Lucy angry again. That was definitely not my purpose.” I shut the lever close and felt my cheeks go red. “So?” Lockwood asked. “Trust me,”, I sighed again “you don´t want to know.” He looked at me in concern. Then his gaze sank to my neck. To the necklace which laid around it.  
“Luce,” He closed his eyes. “I know I am too worried about you sometimes, but you are my friend and my colleague and I… You know how I am. I´m just asking you to take some rest when this case is over. Maybe your talent won´t be needed that desperately on our next cases.” I rolled my eyes but I didn´t want to fight with him so I simply nodded.  
“Great.” Lockwood clapped his hands together and grinned at me. I started smiling as well. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the skull making kissing faces. Immediately, my face went red again. Then I noticed my boss had seen the skull too. Lockwood tried to cover up the awkward moment with a cough. Luckily, Holly walked down the staircase that minute, so we just smiled at her. Skeptically, she narrowed her eyes as she looked at us.

“I just wanted to tell you guys that George is back and wants to tell us what he found about our case.” I nodded and walked past Holly to get to the staircase. So did Lockwood or he wanted to, but Holly grabbed his wrist and said, “Just need to talk to you for sec.” He first looked at her and then at me. “Oh, Lucy you can already go up. It´s not that important.”, Holly said with a smile that meant Lockwood was in trouble. Slowly I walked up to the kitchen.

The last thing I heard before closing the door was Holly saying, “What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid idiot?” I was a bit shook. I´ve never heard her say something in that kind of language. Hearing those kinds of words from George is normal but from Holly? Something must´ve really put her off. “Luce, do you mind listening?” Turning around and I saw George sitting at the table, a folder laying in front of him. I pointed at it. “Is that all the information you got?” Compared to the other folders he collects all his information in, this one was a bit small. Too small for my taste. I´d rather have too much information than too little. “Yep, that was all I could find. But it also seems to be a quite simple case. I´ll tell you when the others finally move their butts up here.”

A few minutes later, Holly and Lockwood came up the stairs. Holly seemed as nice and professional as ever, but Lockwood seemed kind of nervous. I was really wondering what they had talked about. We all settled down on the table and George opened the folder. “As I already told Lucy, it´s an amazingly simple case. In the 18th century, the house was owned by really rich couple. William and Elisabeth Waterford. Back then, children were forced to marry who their fathers choose, so they married when she was 15 and he was 23. They always had their problems, always fought and never got along. But apparently Elisabeth Waterford was the main problem. One old paper said that she was a liar and cheater. Elisabeth was always mad at him without a reason. Some papers also said that she had a relationship with one of their servants to offend her husband. Not wanting to start drama with her, he allowed it if it would just stay between the three of them.  
Elisabeth agreed to his offer but didn´t stick to the plan because she became pregnant with the servant’s child. She really loved him and didn´t want the world to think it was her husband’s baby. Sadly, she suffered a miscarriage soon after that. William finally had enough, so he fired the servant. Elisabeth became more violent after that and some papers said she tried to kill her husband. Another said that she tried to steal her husband’s money and wanted to run away with it.”

Holly shook her head. “That´s awful. Being married so young must have really hurt her mental stability.” George looked at the biscuit he had just picked up from the plat on the table. “Well, Woman were supposed to do everything they were told. I´m so glad, we´re more progressive now than back in the 18th century” Holly looked up from her cup of tea. “Oh, are we?”, she asked in a sharp tone. “Then tell me why I´m the only one cleaning up?” Knowing George´s answer wouldn´t be genuinely nice, Lockwood interrupted. “Because you´re so good at it.”  
“Let´s go on with the case, shall we?” I said before they could go on with the discussion. We turned to George again who took of his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt. “Well, there´s not much more to say. Elisabeth was crazy and hung herself after 5 years of marriage. Having no children because she refused to sleep with him made him the only heir to her fortune and that´s it. So, because the children of our client have seen a female ghost, it´s probably Elisabeth Waterford. Just as I said, amazingly simple.”  
I thought about the case for a few seconds. Something was off about the whole story but I couldn´t tell what. “Well, based on the story behind the house I think it might be a cold maiden.”, Lockwood said taking a biscuit as well. “Shouldn´t be too challenging. Maybe we´re going to be home earlier than expected.” He grinned at us.

2.  
Soon we were packing together our stuff. The others were up in the kitchen, bickering about unimportant stuff, I had already gone down to the basement. Still thinking about the story behind the ghost of our tonight’s case, I packed my backpack. But my thoughts were interrupted by some very disturbing grimaces from the skull. His lever was still closed so I tried to ignore him at first. After some time, I decided to open it. I knew it wasn´t a good Idea but he gets bitchy and decides to not help me when I ignore him for too long. And I would have never said that out loud however his support on our cases was something which I would´ve preferred to retain.

So, I prepared myself for his comments and opened the lever. Once it was open the skull started to tease me. “Ashamed to be caught flirting with your boss, are you?” I walked into our storage and fetched some iron can.” Lockwood and I weren´t flirting. You said it yourself. He´s my boss and we´re friends.” He chuckled. “Sure, Sure. But one question. Since when do friends talk about each other’s hips or body´s in general? I can´t remember that being a thing when I was alive.” Going back to my desks I shook my head. “That´s not funny, you muddy idiot. Why do you always say that? Lockwood would nether look at my hips nor talks about them. Maybe you haven´t noticed but there are a lot of better options, so why would the glorious Anthony Lockwood be interested in someone like me.”  
The skull locked at me as he would expect something. “Come on. Even you can´t be that stupid.” He stayed silent for a moment.” Oh no wait, I forgot that you are the person that thought her beloved friend would die just because a ghost said so. But I guess humans aren´t that clever. Especially when they are a member of Lockwood & Co.”

“Okay, let´s assume Lockwood have looked in that way one time. Tell me one reason why he would do that.” I attached the iron cans to my work belt and made sure that they are secured. As I looked up at the jar again, the green glow which always accompanied the skulls presence was gone. Sighing, I turned around to continue my work. After ten minutes, Holly walked down the stairs. She had a cooking apron tied around her waist and her hair put up in a messy bun which, strangely enough, looked like a professional hairstylist had styled it.

“Hey, I wanted to ask if you want to help me bake some biscuits? The one I made a few days ago are all gone.” I put the jar in my backpack and closed it. “Weren´t there any left when George told us about the Waterfords earlier?” Holly chuckled.” Come on, you know the Boys. They can´t control themselves when they´re around biscuits. And with they I mean George.”  
Sighing, I put my backpack on my shoulder and walked up the stairs behind Holly. In the Kitchen I threw it in the corner. Then Holly and I got to work. After 20 minutes the biscuits were in the oven and we were drinking tee while waiting.” So, Lucy. Lockwood and you…”

“No, not you as well please. Lockwood and I are friends and coworkers. There is nothing between us.” I looked at my cup of tea and could feel my face go red. When I glanced back to Holly, I freezed. She looked like she wanted to kill me. It was safe to say I was scared of her in that moment.” Okay, okay. I know, you have another opinion about that topic but,” I tried to choose my words wisely.” There is no chance this is going to work. Not that I wouldn´t like him. He´s a really good friend and if I had the opportunity to…”  
“…To be with him?” She looked at me.” Luce, I´m going to be honest with you because I seriously can´t take your bullshit anymore. You and Lockwood need to talk about your feelings. Not about how you feel about dying. Talk about how you feel about one another.” I put my cup on the table and sighed. “I don´t think I want to do that.” Holly got angry.” Why not? Why can´t you just tell him that you love him? If you do it, he´ll do too.” She looked at me in concern.” There´s nothing to be scared of.” Holly added. I shrugged my shoulders.” But what if it goes wrong. What if Lockwood doesn´t fell the same about me?”

My coworker wanted to reply something but was interrupted by Lockwood walking into the kitchen. He hesitated for a moment. “Is everything okay with you two?” Holly was smiling her normal, professional smile again. “Yep, we were just backing more biscuits because someone ate the ones, I made a few days ago.” George came up behind Lockwood. “I think it was Lockwood.” I looked at him and replied: “There is chocolate on your chin. And if I remember correctly the biscuits Holly made had chocolate chips in them.” He took a tissue out of his pocket and wiped his chin. George looked at me again, said “You have no evidence.” then disappeared behind Lockwood. He sighed and turned to Holly and me. “Are you two ready? We need to leave in one hour.”

“The biscuits are ready in ten minutes, my backpack is already packed and,” she pointed at my backpack, “hers is as well.” Lockwood nodded. “Perfect, Kipps will be here in 30 minutes.” He smiled awkwardly and slowly walked backwards out of the kitchen, closing the door behind him. Immediately after the door closed, Holly turned to me again. I sighed.” We should focus on our work. I don´t want my feelings to get in the way.” Without waiting for her answer, I grabbed my backpack and left the kitchen. Let´s be honest, having an emotional conflict before or throughout a case isn´t good. Trust me. I learned my lesson after the chaos in Aickmeres.

3.  
Sometime later, we were sitting on a cab on our way to the case. The sun had already started to set. I was staring at my backpack, which laid between my legs the whole time, so I first noticed how strange the neighborhood was, when our cap pulled up into the street our case was in. Every one of the houses were old. But they seemed to be renovated and the gardens were well maintained, the flowers and bushes were all cut and decorated with bright Christmas lights. Even though it was early in the afternoon they were already switched on.  
Our cab stopped in front of a house, that was probably the biggest and fanciest one on the entire street. The hedges grew up on the outside walls of the house and were thoroughly cut. It looked like it came from a fairy tale.

We went up to the front door, Lockwood took out the keys our client had already brought to us the morning of that day and carefully opened the door. As soon as the door was open and we stepped into the hall of the house, I started to hear something. At that moment I didn´t knew what it was, but the bad feeling I had about the case increased dramatically. It was too soon to hear ghost related sounds. Closing my eyes, I tried to blend all the other natural sounds out.

I heard something, far away. Because I still couldn´t recognize what it was, I opened my eyes again. Only then I looked around the hall. Just like the exterior, the interior was beautifully decorated with lots of plants. The walls were high and on a chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. The others were silently standing in the hall, looking at me with a bit of concern on their faces. “Can you already her something?” I nodded and took of my backpack to open the skulls lever. I had kept it closed since our little talk from before. “Hey, would you please tell me why I already can hear something?” Green ectoplasm started to form inside of the jar. I immediately started to feel the pressure I´d always feel when I talk to ghosts.

“Well, I don´t really feel like talking with your right now. You hurt my feelings earlier, you know. And I don´t want to talk to stupid humans right now.” I sighed. “Why can´t you just help me like a nice person, you muddy old asshole?” The skulls face appeared inside of the jar and giggled. “Because primarily, I´m a ghost not a person. Also, it´s bloody hilarious to get on your nerves. That is the fun I´m allowed to have these days.” Now he pushed his face against the inside walls of his jar. “You could also be a better friend and let me out of here. I´d gladly help you then. You´ve seen what my capable of.”

“For the thousandth time. I will not let you out of the jar because you would either kill my friends or some random person or probably both. But maybe I could think about being nicer to you if you would stop acting like an asshole. You just need to help me sense the source.”  
“Let me guess, he won´t help?”, George said. Walking up to the others, I shook my head. “He´s bitchy again.” The light in the jar became poisonous green. “I´m not bitchy. I just don´t like being stuck in a stinky jar. How would you like it if you would be imprisoned in an old jar and only can talk to one person who shuts your mouth when they feel like it?” Sighing, I closed the lever again and put the jar into my backpack. Then I looked at the others. “So, how´s the plan?”

Lockwood answered:” The client said the woman appears at midnight, then wanders around in the big hall on the first floor till she comes into the older, unused bedroom and disappears in it. At least that´s what his children saw. They were too scared to go further so that´s all they can say.”  
“Then let´s split. Holly and Lucy can go into an iron circle in the room and Lockwood and I get into position in the hall. We´ll watch her at first then decide what to do.” George proposed. Holly intervened: “I think we should switch partners. You two boys were already together the last time we went together in groups. Also, I need to talk to George about something especially important.” She turned to Lockwood and me. “So why don´t you two go into the room and We´ll go into the hall.” Although she said it as if she had no ulterior motive, I knew something was up. So, I just shrugged my shoulders and looked over to Lockwood. He had raised his hands and run them through his hair. “Well, why not.” He turned to me. “So, I can take better care of you too” Before I could answer, the others took their bag and walked up the big stairs. I took a deep breath and followed them.

As we walked up the stairs, the sounds I heard increased drastically. Now I could finally identify them. I could hear whining and someone cry. Suddenly, I got dizzy and held onto the railing. Holly and George had already gone ahead, only Lockwood had stayed by my side and was standing by my side, looking at me in concern. Before he could say something, I held up my hands and walked past him. At least I tried because my boss grabbed my arm and stopped me from going away. “I know what you want to say, Lockwood. And my answer is no, I will not go home. I`m fine.” His eyebrow rose. “If you would be fine, your face wouldn´t have turned as white as the ghost we´re going to fight. Also, you may have forgotten that I´m still your boss and you´re actually supposed to do as I say.” His face seemed angry but since his voice sounded concerned, I figured he wouldn´t send me back home. “See, I just want to protect you. And yes, I´d rather have go back home because you´re already feeling bad. But I can´t send you home now, so please just stay in the circle. We can handle the lady alone.”

“And how should my talent help you then?” I asked slightly annoyed. Lockwood just watched me for a few seconds, I could see he was thinking. “Maybe, just maybe you can use your touch but only if I allow it and when I´m with you.” Knowing, he won´t change his mind, I agreed by simply nodding my head. Together, we walked along the hall to the point where George and Holly were standing. They had already laid out one iron circle a few metres away from a big, dark oat door, that lead to the room the client had mentioned. “I think we should proceed like we did with the Wintergarden case. First, we measure the temperature around the house to see if the ghost really stays in the hall and this room.” He pointed to the door. “And if she really is, we watch what she´s doing and then discuss in detail what we´ll do. But...” George turned to me. “This time without any injuries please.” Safe to say I wanted to kill him in that moment.  
“Well, that definitely won´t happen again.” Lockwood said and gave me a warning look. “I say we go around in groups of two. Luce, you come with me.

4.  
After an hour of searching for unnatural signs all around the house, we met again Infront of the dark oak door. “Okay, Holly and I have found no signs of an unnatural phenomena in the rest of the house. So, the ghost will probably only appear in this hall and the room. Or have you two sensed anything?” George said after we drank and ate a bit. Closing my bottle, I shook my head. “The sound only increases here. It basically stays the same everywhere else.” Holly put her sandwich back in her backpack. “What did you exactly hear, Lucy?” I thought for a bit. Not wanting to worry the others unnecessarily, I just shrugged my shoulders. “You know, the usual stuff. Whimpering, someone crying. Nothing special at all.”

Lockwood clapped his hands together.” Well, then let´s keep going with the plan. You two stay here, Lucy you come with me.” Holly nodded her head and sat down into the iron circle were George was already sitting. Lockwood walked up to the door and waited for me to put my backpack on my shoulders again. As I stood next to him, he showed me his caring, warm smile. “Are you ready?” He asked. Just as always, his smile made me feel a bit better. “I am.” I answered while smiling as him as well. His smile got wider, and he finally opened the door.

Stepping into the room, I closed my eyes. The whimpering and crying I heard before were now amazingly loud. It was just like someone was crying right next to my ears. After breathing in and out a few times, I opened my eyes again so I could finally see the room I was standing in.

It was flooded with moonlight. There were large windows on three of the four walls from which you could see the Christmas lights on the streets and on the other houses. As a contrast to the beautiful lights out there, the room was sad and cold. All the furniture was hidden under white cloths which were covered in dust. Lockwood and I stepped deeper into the room to take a closer look. “Can you see anything?” I asked him. He looked around. “There´s a death light. Right there.” He pointed at a spot in the middle of the room. I just starred at it for a few moments. “Is something wrong, Luce?” Shaking my head, I answered: “No, I just… There´s something off with the Waterford’s story. I think there are details in the story of these two, the newspapers have either not published or just didn´t know about.” Lockwood shrugged his shoulders. “Or the woman was mentally ill like George said. Either ways, we must capture her ghost. If she was ill or not is irrelevant.” Pulling the cloth away from what seemed to be an old couch, I saw that the furniture had an older style than the rest of the furniture in the house.

“Do you think they wanted to keep the furniture? Looks like it´s the old one from before all the houses in the street were renovated.”, Lockwood asked from the other side of the room, pulling away the cloth from a dresser. “I don´t think so. It doesn´t fit in with the rest of the furniture. Also...” I coughed as I pulled away another cloth.” Some of the things in here seem to fall apart as soon as you touch it.”

He suddenly looked disinterested and came to me. “Anyways, we should lay out the circle. I have a bad feeling something´s going to happen soon.” Together we moved the furniture which was standing directly in the middle of the room to the walls and put our iron circle across from the door. Lockwood lit a petroleum lamp and we both went into the circle. As soon as I stepped inside of it, the crying I heard stopped. We both sat down and started to wait. Having the glorious idea of speaking to the skull again, I opened my backpack, pulled out the jar and put him in my lap while I searched for a chocolate bar. Then I tossed my backpack aside and opened the lever of the jar.

“Wow let me guess I was longer in your lap than your boyfriend. Kind of sad isn´t it.” I sighed, feeling my cheeks grew red again. “I shouldn´t have opened that goddam lever.” The skull laughed. “Oh, come on, I´m just want to help. Did you know that guys feel a certain pressure in their nether region when they are not satisfied for a longer time? Your poor Locky must feel a really, really strong pressure and I´m sure you´ll gladly want to help him with that. Also, one hand washes the other. So, if you help him, he´ll most likely return the favor.” Considering hitting my head against the wall, I growled. “I can´t believe I have to tell you that. There is nothing, absolutely nothing between us. So, either shut up about it and help me not getting killed by a ghost or I will bury you in the front yard when I come home. And just for your information, you muddy asshole. I will not sleep with my freaking boss.” I half shouted while violently closing the lever again.

After a second I froze. Slowly I turned around to Lockwood, who was watching me with a slightly hurt look. I started to stutter “I… I´m sorry, I...” My already red cheeks were getting redder and I looked away as fast as I could. “Sorry, he was just being an idiot again.” I said, rather to my hands than to my boss. Lockwood cleared his throat. “You…don´t have to apologize. I mean, I understand because…I´m your coworker and roommate and friend and.” He ran his hands through his hair. “...it would be highly inappropriate for us to sleep together.” Standing up, he looked away from me, pulled out his sunglasses from his coat and put them on. “I´m going to see if Holly and George have already seen something. Just stay in the circle and don´t make anything stupid.” He left the room, slightly slamming the door. I jumped at the loud sound. For a moment I didn´t know what to think. What had just happened? Why was Lockwood so upset? Saying I wouldn´t sleep with him must have really hurt him. But it was clear that something like that would never happen. He was my boss, and I was his employee. That was not allowed. So, what was so bad about it?

5.  
“What the hell did you think?” I nearly screamed at the skull after I opened his lever again. “Can´t you just let it alone for once.” The face inside the jar looked at me in a disapproving look. “I didn´t tell you to shout on the top of your lungs that you wouldn´t sleep with him.  
You should have known that that would hurt him.” I looked at him. “Why would he be upset? He should have known that this isn´t allowed to be happen.” Standing up, I looked around the room. “Didn´t Locky tell you to stay in the circle?”

“Why would you care? Also, the ghost isn´t here and I´m sick of just sitting around.” Stepping out of the circle I started to shiver. The air was freezing. And the sounds I had heard earlier came back just as intense as sooner. They were nearly as loud as the sound of the door Lockwood slammed earlier. And I was getting slightly dizzy again. I breathed in and out a few times again till I felt better. After some time, I wondered around the room again. I looked on my thermostat, it was -4 degrees. My breath formed into small clouds before my eyes.  
Tightening my jacked around me, I walked up to the only wall with no windows on it. Flowers were painted on the wallpaper. “Now to worry you but I think we´re getting a visitor. And she´s not amused that you want to are here. Not that I would care I mean.” I looked around the room. Since I couldn´t see the ghost, I figured it was the perfect time. Stepping closer to the wall, I stretched out my arm and touched the cold wall. As soon as my skin touched the wallpaper, the sounds I heard suddenly stopped and the whole room blurred. After a few seconds it stopped, then everything went clear again. The wallpaper, that was dark and bleak a few moments ago, was now light and somehow happy. I turned around and looked at the now completely changed room.

The sun was shining thru the windows, the furniture seemed new and newly built. Also, I wasn´t alone anymore. There was a girl sitting on the bed, crying. She wore a nice, pricy looking death and had a beautiful hairstyle. I wanted to go to her, but I knew it was just a flashback, a memory. While she was crying, the door opened and a woman that seemed to be a maid, came in. She walked up to the crying girl and sat next to her. “I´m sorry, Mrs. Waterford. This must be awful for you. Losing a child, I mean.” The girl locked up at the maid. “It´s fine. Really. Thank you, Josephine.” Elisabeth smiled thru her tears. Suddenly her smile faded. “What is it Josephine? You seem troubled.” Josephine looked at her. “I´m afraid, I don´t have good news for you, Mrs. Waterford. Your husband, he…he wants to take your lover Sebastian with him. To his hunting lodge.” The maid had an apologetic look on her face. Her lady jumped up from the bed, new tears already coming up. “No, no he can´t. William will kill him.” Josephine stood up as well. “I guess that´s the reasoning behind it.”

Suddenly the room blurred again. Now it was late afternoon and Elisabeth was now accomplished by a mad looking man. The maid was gone. “Please William, can´t you just fire him? You don´t need to kill him.” She begged. The man just shook his head. “Pathetic. You shouldn´t love this man. I am your husband. You should only love me.” The man Elisabeth called William nearly screamed at her. “Well maybe this marriage was a mistake.” Elisabeth said, now with a cold voice. She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm and hold onto her. “You will not leave me. You are my wife, and you must obey me.” She tried to free herself from him. However, William wouldn´t let go of her.

He threw her against a dresser and then walked up to her again. Then the room blurred once again and now the moon was shining thru the windows again. I froze. In the middle of the room was hanging someone. In the dim light I could see long hair hanging from the head and a long flowy dress waving around the body. Now I recognized who the body was. It was Elisabeth.

Next to her on the ground was standing William. He looked up at her and shook his head. “Tell her family and the press it was suicide.” He turned around to the maid, who stood behind him. She grinned at Elizabeth’s body in delight. “Of course, my love.” She turned around, put on a sad, mourning face and walked out of the room. William stayed in the room. As I looked up at the body again, the room blurred again. Thinking, the flashbacks would end now, I started to relax a bit. But I thought wrong. The room went clear again, but it still showed the body hanging in the room. Everything around it was frozen. The sounds I had heard earlier come back as well, now slightly different ones. I could now hear screaming, like someone was about to die. And something else had changed too. The body moved. It swayed around from one side to the other like the person hanging there was fighting for its life. Shocked, I tried to pull my hand away from the wall, but I was somehow numb. I couldn´t move.

Trying to pull away my, I panicked. Why couldn´t I move? I looked up at the body again. It had stopped moving. Or at least it had stopped swaying around. Now, it was turning around till it faced me. The wavy hair flew back, red glowing eyes staring at me. I tried to scream but there was no sound coming out of my mouth. Out of nowhere, the rope which the body hung from ripped apart. The body fell on the floor. As soon as it hit the floor it straightened up again. Slowly, it started walked towards to me. Elisabeth stretched out her arm, pointing right at my chest. I screamed again and tried to break myself free from the wall. But somehow, I still couldn´t move. Elisabeth was now only inches away from me. Closing my eyes in fear, I hoped a miracle would happen. It didn´t, so last thing I remembered was the dark body, stretching it´s dark arm to touch me. Then I passed out. 

6.  
I don´t know who long I´ve been out. The only thing I know that I woke up in a large bed. Still feeling dizzy, I looked down at myself. I was wearing my pajamas. Someone must´ve changed my clothes. The room around me became clearer and I recognized the bland furniture. The stripped wallpaper, the green-golden curtains, the pictures of distant lands. Leaning back into the pillows, I sighed. I was in Lockwood´s room. For a while I just starred at the ceiling and thought about what had happened.

When I closed my eyes, I could still see the body hanging from the ceiling. I opened my eyes abruptly and sat up. Elisabeth. Our case. Slightly panicking again, looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was 16:47 pm. I have been asleep for half a day. How could I sleep for so long? Agents tend to sleep too little rather than too much. Normally, agents get 5 to 6 hours of sleep, not more. Especially not half a day more. I stood up, still feeling really dizzy, and walked to the door. Before I reached her, she was opened from the outside. Lockwood was standing in the hall and looked at me in surprise. I took a step back.

“Sorry I didn´t listen to you. Again.” I said with a lopsided grin. Not saying anything, he stepped forward and hugged me really tight. I was surprised at first but after a few seconds, I wrapped my arms around him as well. Then I buried my face in his chest. He smelled like cologne and tea. “I´m glad you feel better, Lucy. I was so worried.” Lockwood said after some time. Still leaning against him, I answered: “Lockwood, it´s fine. I´m fine. No need to worry about me.” He pulled away and looked at me, his hands still on my waist. “What the hell did you think? I told you to stay in the circle.” Lockwood sounded rather worried than angry. “I know, sorry. I wasn´t thinking. And maybe you were right earlier, my talent is tiring.”, I said. He smiled. “Wow, that you agree with me about something is new. I don´t think that happened before.” I chuckled and hit him in the shoulder playfully. He started laughing as well. Still laughing, I shook my head and looked down. That´s when I noticed that he had his hands on my waist. Lockwood noticed it in the same moment and pulled his arms away as fast as he could. “Sorry.” He mumbled while his face grew red. I blushed and an awkward silence arose.

“Anyways, what happened when I left the room?”, he asked after he cleared his throat. Just as I wanted to answer, I suddenly felt dizzy again, grabbed Lockwood’s arm and closed my eyes. He realized that I didn´t feel good and pulled me to the bed. We both sat down. “Do you feel better now? If not, I could Holly ask if she…” He started but I interrupted him. “No, stay please. It´s better now. I just need some rest.” I breathed in and out for a few times then opened my eyes again. My boss had a worried expression on his face. Somehow, he looked cute when he was worried about something. “Better?” He asked while squeezing my hand. Nodding, I returned the squeeze. His warm, caring smile returned. “I´d say I´m going to make some tea and something to eat for us, you have slept for half a day and need food. You lie down a bit and when the food is ready, I come back, and you tell me what happened.” I didn´t need to think about his offer. “Sounds good.”

His smile grew bigger and he stood up while I slipped under the blanket. As he walked out of the door he added: “And don´t think about going down. I don´t want to see you anywhere except this bed.” I smiled as the closed the door again.

I didn´t plan to fall asleep again. I really didn´t. Put somehow, as soon as Lockwood had closed the door, my eyes fell shut. But who could blame me? His blankets were the softest, the bed was warm, and cozy and it was freezing outside. It would´ve been a miracle if I hadn´t fallen asleep. But after an indefinite time, I was woken up by the smell of tea, cologne and someone lovingly caress my hair. I yawned, stretched and opened my eyes to see Lockwood sitting by my side on the bed, smiling. “When I said you should lie down I didn´t mean sleep but whatever helps you feel better.” He chuckled. I smiled, stretched again and sat up. On Lockwood’s bedside table was standing a plate with sandwiches on and two cups of tea. “I had to give George one too otherwise he would have been grumpy for the whole day.” Lockwood said while laying the plate between us and handing me one cup, while keeping the other. With both hands around my cup, I drank a bit. He had made my favorite type of tea. Whilst silently drinking, I looked up at him. His hair was messy, his shirt sleeves were rolled up as always and he smiled his minimalistic, sweet, innocent smile that always melted my heart. “So.”, he raised his head, now looking directly in my eyes. I blushed immediately. He noticed, blushed as well and looked quickly at the sandwiches between us.

“Have I ever told you that you look really cute when you´re blushing?” Lockwood asked after a few seconds. I just blankly starred at him. “No. No, you didn´t.” He blushed once more. Now his complete cheeks were glowing red. “Well, you do. Look cute I mean. And not just when you´re blushing, you´re…I´m just going to shut up now.” He raised his cup and drunk again while starring at his cup. I couldn´t answer at first then just mumbled “Thank you. That´s really nice of you.” We both silently drank and ate without looking at each other. After he finished his sandwich his spoke up. “So, if you feel better now, please tell me what happened.” I sighed, put the cup I was holding on the bedside table and sat up straight.

“After you slammed the door, which really startled me by the way, I talked to the skull for a moment and then left the circle to investigate the room further. I know I shouldn´t have done that so please spare me your speech about me being irresponsible. It was already freezing outside the circle, but I walked up to the wall anyways. I wanted to use my touch on it and then…” I froze. The picture I had seen came to my mind again. How William Waterford pushed his wife against the dresser, how he wasn´t even sorry to lie about his wife´s death and lastly, how the hanging came slowly towards me, stretching his arms out to kill me. Suddenly, the panic I had felt was back and I started shivering again. Without thinking about it, Lockwood put the plate on the bedside table as well, slid as close as the could to my and wrapped his arms around me again. Thankful to have him there, I leaned my head on his chest again. He pulled me really, really close and press his face against my hair. After some time, my heart stopped racing and without letting go of Lockwood, I continued my story. “The problem wasn´t Elisabeth. Yes, she had a lover, but her husband was awful to her. After she lost her lovers baby, William Waterford wanted to kill him. She begged him to just fire her lover and William became angry. She...” I breathed in and out to calm myself down as best as I could. To achieve the same effect, 

Lockwood pulled me closer to him once more, so I was completely pressed against his body. And somehow the combined smell of tea and cologne, his warm body around me and his hands lovingly caressing my hair helped. “She didn´t kill herself. William must´ve made her somehow unconscious and then… he hanged her. After that he told his wife´s maid, which he had an affair with, to tell the press it was suicide. So, he looked like the innocent guy with a mad wife.” I could feel a tear rolling down my face. “Lockwood it was awful. Her body was hanging from the ceiling, swaying around like she was still alive, and I could hear her screams. She was fighting for her life, then the rope she was hanging from ripped. I was just standing there, I…I couldn´t move.” Now I was sobbing more than before. Lockwood leaned back so he could look at me better. I could barely see him through my tears.

Slowly, he started wiping away the tears on my face. Then he carefully pressed his forehead against mine while caressing my cheeks with his hands. “It´s fine Lucy. You´re home. It´s safe here.” He closed his eyes. “We gave her source to Clerkenwell. She´s gone.” I started to come down again. Lockwood was right. I was at home with my friends. With him. “Thank you for being there for me.” I said, smiling a bit as he opened his eyes. “I´m glad you’re here. And…” Now I was blushing again for the millionth time that day. “…I´m sorry if I hurt you with what I said earlier. I didn´t know that would be such a big deal.” Lockwood sighed. “It isn´t a big deal, Luce. I was just…I know that this will never happen but hearing it from you is different.”

“Why would it be so bad? I mean do you…” I answered with raised eyebrows. “What? No, no, no of course not. I would never…We´re friends. Maybe best friends but…Well.” He said quickly. “Let´s just forget it.” Smiling awkwardly, he slid away from me a bit. “You should sleep a little. If you want, you can stay here. It´s maybe a more comfortable than your old thing upstairs.” I nodded. His bed was indeed more comfortable than mine. He chuckled then bit his lip. I knew he was thinking about something. Finally, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. Then he slid of the bed, grabbed the cups and the plate and walked towards the door

But I had other plans. “Lockwood?” He turned around. I felt my cheeks blush again, right at the spot where he had kissed me. “What is it?” Lockwood asked.  
“Can you stay?” I said, starring at my hands because I was kind of scarred of his answer. “At least till I´m asleep. I don´t think I want to be alone now. If you don´t want to you don´t need to, but I´d just feel better.” For a few seconds I thought he might decline my suggestion. But he didn´t. He smiles and put the plate and the cubs on the bedside table again. Then he turned on the little lamp on the table. After that, he turned off the large light that hung in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, I had covered myself with the blanket. When he sat down, I cleared my throat. “You don´t need to sit there. There is enough space next to me you know.” Lockwood raised his eyebrows. “Do you want me to lay down next to you?”

“You don´t need to if you don´t want…” I started but he was already taking of his shoes. Sliding a bit to make him space, I watched him pull up the blanked and laid down under it. As the turned to me, he caught me starring at him. “Do you need a hug again?” He asked. I simply nodded so I laid down, using his chest as my pillow. He put his hands around me and yawned. Then he buried his face in my hair once more. Also yawning, I closed my eyes.

And that´s how we eventually fell asleep. Also, that´s also how Holly found us when she wanted to see where Lockwood was. I don´t think she will ever let us forget that.


End file.
